A Minute With: Kermit and Miss Piggy bicker about lines and love

The characters of Kermit and Miss Piggy arrive at the premiere of "Muppets Most Wanted" in Hollywood, California in this file photo taken March 11, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/Files

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - The Muppets’ Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, the object of her affection since 1976, return to the big screen in “Muppets Most Wanted,” a caper film that takes the puppet gang on a European tour while a case of mistaken identity lands Kermit in a Russian gulag.

Miss Piggy, wearing a floral print dress with pearls, and Kermit, in his natural green, sat down with Reuters to talk about love and how many lines Miss Piggy needs in the script.

Q: How have you two kept it going together for so long?

Miss Piggy: Well, how do we keep it going for so long? I have no idea.

Kermit: You know, I don’t have a good answer, because all I know is that it’s going.

Miss Piggy: I‘m not even sure it is.

Kermit: Well, maybe it’s not going. Maybe it’s stopped.

Miss Piggy: Where is it going?

Kermit: Maybe it has just stopped. Maybe it is not going anywhere. But maybe ...

Miss Piggy: It might’ve just ended.

Kermit: We might be sitting here just two former shells -- shells of our former selves -- and not going anywhere.

Miss Piggy: You know, I‘m not even sure why I’ve been pursuing this frog for so long.

Kermit: Why, you talk about it like I‘m not even in the room!

Miss Piggy: Well, you know, if we’re not a thing anymore, it doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t understand it, because he’s just never shown me the proper respect. He’s never really listened to ...

Kermit: What do you mean by that?

Miss Piggy: ... my goals and aspirations in life. I want to get married. I want to have children.

Kermit: Oh, boy.

Miss Piggy: He doesn’t seem to hear that.

Kermit: Biological improbability there ...

Miss Piggy: You started off this interview really great.

Q: Miss Piggy, what was your first reaction when you were given the script for “Muppets Most Wanted”?

Miss Piggy: Not enough lines. ... That’s what I do when I get a script. The first thing I do is I always count my lines, and it didn’t measure up. But we eventually fixed that, and now the movie is great!

Kermit: So let me get this straight ... You are happy with the number of lines you ended up with? Because I’d like to write that number down if you don’t mind...

Q: Kermit, how were you able to evoke fear and terror like you did while in a Russian prison?

Kermit: Well, listen, people think that frogs are wimpy little creatures. That you can just step on, you know? But we frogs have a vicious side, you know?